The American Civil War

Between 1861 and 1865, the clash of the greatest armies the Western hemisphere had ever seen turned small towns, little-known streams, and obscure meadows in the American countryside into names we will always remember. In those great battles, those streams ran red with blood-and the United States was truly born.

Gettysburg

Best-selling author and acclaimed Civil War expert Stephen W. Sears, hailed by The New York Times Book Review as “arguably the preeminent living historian of the war’s eastern theater,” crafts what will stand the test of time as the definitive history of the greatest battle ever fought on American soil. Drawing on years of research, Sears focuses on the big picture, capturing the entire essence of the momentous three day struggle while offering fresh insights that will surprise even the best versed Civil War buffs.

Grant Takes Command

This conclusion of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bruce Catton's acclaimed Civil War history of General Ulysses S. Grant begins in the summer of 1863. After Grant's bold and decisive triumph over the Confederate Army at Vicksburg - a victory that wrested control of the Mississippi River from Southern hands - President Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant to the head of the Army of the Potomac.

The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945

One of America's preeminent military historians, James D. Hornfischer has written his most expansive and ambitious book to date. Drawing on new primary sources and personal accounts of Americans and Japanese alike, here is a thrilling narrative of the climactic end stage of the Pacific War, focusing on the US invasion of the Mariana Islands in June 1944 and the momentous events that it triggered.

The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944

The devastation of Pearl Harbor and the American victory at Midway were prelude to a greater challenge: rolling back the vast Japanese Pacific empire island by island. This masterful history encompasses the heart of the Pacific War - the period between mid-1942 and mid-1944 - when parallel Allied counteroffensives north and south of the equator washed over Japan's far-flung island empire like a "conquering tide", concluding with Japan's irreversible strategic defeat in the Marianas.

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

In SPQR, world-renowned classicist Mary Beard narrates the unprecedented rise of a civilization that even 2,000 years later still shapes many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, and beauty.

Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam

The Civil War battle waged on September 17, 1862, at Antietam Creek, Maryland, was one of the bloodiest in the nation's history: On this single day, the battle claimed nearly 23,000 casualties. In Landscape Turned Red, the renowned historian Stephen Sears draws on a remarkable cache of diaries, dispatches, and letters to recreate the vivid drama of Antietam as experienced not only by its leaders but also by its soldiers, both Union and Confederate.

The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War

After 30 years and with three million copies in print, Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War classic, The Killer Angels, remains as vivid and powerful as the day it was originally published.

Witness to Gettysburg: Inside the Battle That Changed the Course of the Civil War

Witness to Gettysburg brings the bloodiest, most crucial battle of the Civil War to life through on-the-spot eyewitness accounts. From the courageous fighting men and officers to the civilians watching as the conflict raged through their towns, from the reporters riding with the regiments to the children excited or terrified by the titanic drama unfolding before them, each account stems from personal experience and blends with the whole to create a startlingly vivid tapestry of war. In their own words, and through the eyes of their closest aides, such commanders as Robert E. Lee, Jeb Stuart, and George Meade.

The Black Echo: Harry Bosch Series, Book 1

For LAPD homicide cop Harry Bosch - hero, maverick, nighthawk - the body in the drainpipe at Mulholland Dam is more than another anonymous statistic. This one is personal. The dead man, Billy Meadows, was a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat" who fought side by side with him in a nightmare underground war that brought them to the depths of hell.

The Coming Fury: The Centennial History of the Civil War, Volume 1

>The New York Times hailed this trilogy as “one of the greatest historical accomplishments of our time”. With stunning detail and insights, America’s foremost Civil War historian recreates the war from its opening months to its final, bloody end. Each volume delivers a complete listening experience. The Coming Fury (Volume 1) covers the split Democratic Convention in the spring of 1860 to the first battle of Bull Run.

The Battle of Leipzig: The History and Legacy of the Biggest Battle of the Napoleonic Wars

Two military setbacks, on a scale unprecedented in history, were required before the high tide of Napoleon's success began to ebb towards the final denouement of the Hundred Days and the famous Battle of Waterloo. The failed Russian invasion set the stage for the second defeat at Leipzig, which essentially sealed the fate of Napoleon's empire. The four-day Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, dubbed the "Battle of the Nations", essentially determined the course the Napoleonic Wars took from that moment forward.

Gettysburg: The Last Invasion

From the acclaimed Civil War historian, a brilliant new history–the most intimate and richly readable account we have had–of the climactic three-day battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), which draws the reader into the heat, smoke, and grime of Gettysburg alongside the ordinary soldier, and depicts the combination of personalities and circumstances that produced the greatest battle of the Civil War, and one of the greatest in human history.

The Big Sleep

Los Angeles PI Philip Marlowe is working for the Sternwood family. Old man Sternwood, crippled and wheelchair-bound, is being given the squeeze by a blackmailer and he wants Marlowe to make the problem go away. But with Sternwood's two wild, devil-may-care daughters prowling LA's seedy backstreets, Marlowe's got his work cut out - and that's before he stumbles over the first corpse.

Defeating Lee: A History of the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac

Fair Oaks, the Seven Days, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, Petersburg - the list of significant battles fought by the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac, is a long and distinguished one. This absorbing history of the Second Corps follows the unit's creation and rise to prominence, the battles that earned it a reputation for hard fighting, and the legacy its veterans sought to maintain in the years after the Civil War.

Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies, and Three Battles

From the New York Times best-selling author comes the definitive history of one of the greatest battles ever fought - a riveting nonfiction chronicle published to commemorate the two-hundredth anniversary of Napoleon's last stand.

Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution

Boston in 1775 is an island city occupied by British troops after a series of incendiary incidents by patriots who range from sober citizens to thuggish vigilantes. After the Boston Tea Party, British and American soldiers and Massachusetts residents have warily maneuvered around each other until April 19, when violence finally erupts at Lexington and Concord.

Publisher's Summary

"Hassler's history will survive as our most detailed narrative of the first day's battle, examining the day's action so minutely that no succeeding historian of Gettysburg will be able to ignore it. Hassler's book has solid virtues in addition to its thoroughness of detail: It offers a persuasive argument that the first day's events largely determined the eventual outcome of the battle; Hassler displays uncommonly complete knowledge of the battlefield terrain [and] makes uniquely good use of the information that can be gleaned from the monuments and markers on the battlefield." (American Historical Review)

What the Critics Say

"Hassler, a noted Civil War authority, has concentrated on the terrible, crucial combat of the first day; students of the war will appreciate Hassler's good research and writing. The book is a clear presentation of a complex battle. Highly recommended." (Choice)

"Hassler's forte is unit combat; he combines a thorough mastery of the terrain with concise and colorful accounts of the ferocious fighting of that bloody day. His creation of the clash of brigades is Civil War history at its best." (Civil War History)

Not as an audiobook. I know from research that this is a great book on Gettysburg and the reviews on Audible support that view. However these are really Amazon reviews - not Audible reviews. That is, (I assume) reviews of the written book not of it's spoken counterpart. Having just listened to Allen C. Guelzo's 'Gettysburg' with wonderful narration by Robertson Dean I was very disappointed to move on to this work and find the narration so poor by comparison.

What didn’t you like about Gregg A. Rizzo’s performance?

For a start, it is so rushed! It is like he had been taking speed or that the narration was accidently on 'fast forward'! The slower, deliberate pace of Robertson Dean in Guelzo's work is much more appropriate to both the nature of the subject and the era that it is depicting.

In Rizzo's reading, swathes of facts or observations just keep rushing past you with much annoyance. In fact the very complexity of the unfolding of the battle, the topography, positioning of the elements of the two armies etc. almost demands a slower reading so that it can be better absorbed.

Equally irritating (in tandem with the rapid narration style), was the endless rising and falling pitch to emphasize the drama of certain aspects. This was just unnecessary and distracting. By contrast, Dean's more even pitch (and pace) showed how well the drama of certain points of time and decisions in the battle could be well highlighted without becoming almost shrill.

As Audible listener's know, the narration is as important as the book itself. In future, I will make a point of ensuring I am looking at audiobook reviews and not those of Amazon members who are referring to their experience of the written work (which might be in stark contrast to the listening experience).

Any additional comments?

Some time ago I had listened to Grover Gardner's narration of Shelby Foote's amazing volumes on the Civil War. While Gardner did a great job with narrating William L. Shirer’s 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich', his voice and tone, I thought, was less suited to the Civil War era. Robertson Dean narrating Foote's work would have been an amazing blend!

I guess what I am trying to say is that in historical works that are set in an era very different to our own, the choice of narrator takes on a greater importance. While I am sure Gregg Rizzo has narrated other books very well, I felt he was the wrong choice for this work.